The inauguration celebration for President-elect Barack Obama will kick off on January 18th with the: "We Are One: The The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial" ... and they aren't messing around. Check out the list of people slated to perform so far (alphabetically):
Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder.
Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington will be there to read historical passages (from what, it doesn't say), and The Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson will give the invocation.
The event is free and open to the public, and HBO, while having exclusive rights:
...will televise the event on an open signal, working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country with access to cable, telcos or satellite television to join in the Opening Celebration for free.
What a great way to kick off the celebration!